Restaurateur Gabriel Stulman and chef April Bloomfield open Sailor in Fort Greene

By Scott Lynch

Gabriel Stulman is kind of a genius at creating intimate, vaguely ramshackle, very happening restaurants. Places where the food is simple and delicious and most everyone there seems like a regular. Joseph Leonard, or “Joe Leo,” is the apotheosis of the formula, but his Fairfax and Jeffrey’s Grocery, all three within a few blocks of each other in the West Village, are also unmistakably part of Stulman’s Happy Cooking Hospitality family.

For the brand new Sailor, though, the team’s first restaurant in Brooklyn and one of the most eagerly anticipated openings of the season, Stulman and crew seem to be going for something a little more buttoned-up and ambitious than their usual neighborhood cafe vibe.

First there’s the design, by Alfredo Parades. When you sit here taking it all in — the crisp linens, the spiffy blue trim, the leather-topped bar stools, the closely hung collection of cheeky nautical paintings and prints — it will not surprise you that he is the longtime creative director at Ralph Lauren. It’s a shipshape room, bringing polish to this prime corner of DeKalb Avenue.

But the most important upping-the-ante difference at Sailor is Stulman’s partnership with April Bloomfield, one of the city’s most celebrated chefs for about 12 years in the aughts and teens, running the kitchen at such seminal spots as The Spotted Pig, The Breslin and John Dory before sexual harassment allegations against her business partner at the time, Ken Friedman — as well as complaints that she hadn’t done enough to protect her employees — brought the whole thing down.

Sailor marks Bloomfield’s return to the culinary spotlight and, no surprise given her prowess with both surf and turf, the menu here is divided pretty equally between meat and fish, with a few vegetable sides thrown in at the end. There are snacky things like pâté en croute with mustard, salt cod with peppers, and a mound of terrific smoked mackerel spread that gets generously sprinkled with coarsely ground “pastrami spices.”

Smoked mackerel pate with pastrami spice, $13 (Scott Lynch)

The lush and lovely veal sweetbreads come encased in a crackling-fried shell.

Crisp veal sweetbreads, $18 (Scott Lynch)

The crunchy radishes, poached in beer, draped in lardo, will stain your tablecloth (and shirt) if you’re not careful.

Poached radishes with lardo, $12 (Scott Lynch)

And there’s a dramatic-looking mussel toast that every table but ours seems to have had the good sense to order.

It’s with the entrees, though, that Bloomfield really shines at Sailor. The roasted pork loin is butter-soft and juicy, served with a head of charred fennel (peel off the leaves and make a little pig-and-root taco at your table) in a puddle of punchy salsa rossa.

Roasted pork loin with fennel, $27 (Scott Lynch)

A pair of black bass filets may be small, but they are mighty and come accompanied in style with piles of fancy mushrooms, cubes of bitter celeriac and some sublime vadouvan spices.

Black bass with mushrooms, $32  (Scott Lynch)

Sailor’s showstopper dish is a whole roasted chicken, which hits the table with all the fanfare you’d hope from a $65 bird.

There are a couple of sophisticated-sounding pastries for dessert, but we couldn’t resist Bloomfield’s profiteroles, yawning with housemade vanilla ice cream and sticky with salted caramel. A long list of sweet wines and bitter amaro is available at this juncture as well.

Profiteroles, $13 (Scott Lynch)

Speaking of wines, there are a ton of them at Sailor, including multiple pages of bottles, about a third of which are under $100. Cocktails cost around $17, and you can get seven ounces of Miller High Life for seven bucks, among other beer options. Reservations open on September 20, and until then it’s walk-ins only, which is great for people like me who can get there at 4:30 and be first on line, but also means table-waits hit an hour-plus by 6.

Sailor is located at 228 DeKalb Avenue, at the corner of Clermont Avenue, and is currently open on Wednesday and Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m., on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 5 to 10:30.